Rand Paul addresses social conservatives

Sen. Rand Paul on Wednesday pitched a socially conservative crowd on his brand of libertarianism, speaking in greater detail than usual about what that philosophy would include.

The Kentucky Republican, a likely 2016 contender, addressed a Four Seasons ballroom in Georgetown where Gov. Rick Perry (R-Texas), Rep. Paul Broun (R-Ga.), who is running for Senate, Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.) and Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council were all in attendance, among other leading conservatives. The GOP mega-donor Foster Friess and his wife were named as the “legacy sponsors” in the event program for the Weyrich Awards Dinner, named for the late conservative leader Paul Weyrich.

Text Size

-

+

reset

“We need to extend our message to people who haven’t been listening to us,” Paul told the crowd. “To me, that’s a message that may have a libertarian twist, which I think is the same as liberty, or Bill of Rights. It means the Fourth Amendment is as important as the Second Amendment, the Fifth Amendment’s important, the Sixth Amendment, the right to trial by jury.”

The senator has long been urging the GOP to expand its tent to make minorities and young people feel comfortable. He singled out, as he has before, racial disparities in drug sentencing.

“We need to be the party that says we’re not compromising on balancing budgets and lowering taxes and less regulations,” he said. “But why don’t we be the party that has some compassion for people that aren’t being treated fairly by the criminal justice system?”